LATIN  AMERICA 

THE  LAND 
THE  PEOPLE 
THE  PROBLEMS 

OUTLINE  OF  AN  ADDRESS 
BY  THE  REV' WEBSTER  E' 
BROWNING'PH'D'OF 
SANTIAGO  DE  GHILE 

MARCH ’^NINETEEN  HUNDRED  6?  THIRTEEN 


LATIN  AMERICA^ THE  LAND 
THE  PEOPLE 'THE  PROBLEM 


INTRODUCTION 


Latin  America,  that  portion  of  the  West- 
ern Hemisphere  which  stretches  from  the 
Rio  Grande  to  Cape  Horn,  and  includes  three 
small  republics  in  the  West  Indies  group,  is 
that  part  of  the  world  which  is  least  known, 
least  understood,  and  from  which  least  is  ex- 
pected by  Europeans  and  North  Americans. 
What  ideas  we  have  entertained  of  that  semi- 
mysterious  part  of  the  globe  have  often  been 
comic  or  bizarre,  as  colored  by  the  writers  of 
light  journalism,  and  in  them  deadly  fevers 
and  all  too  frequent  revolutions,  in  play  re- 
publics, have  held  a large  place.  The  ex- 
ploits of  the  Spanish  conquistadores,  those 
wonderful  free-booters,  whose  strenuous  deeds 
won  for  their  king  a new  world,  and  the  haze 
of  mediaeval  romanticism,  that,  since  their 
day,  has  hung  over  the  Spanish  Main,  seem 
to  have  called  those  lands  into  notice  only 
to  shroud  them  again  from  the  public  gaze, 
and  they  have  counted  for  but  little  in  the 
history  of  the  world  while  Europe  and  Teu- 
tonic America  have  pursued  their  empire- 
building ways. 

Our  ideas  as  to  the  various  countries  that 
form  Latin  America  have,  in  general,  been 
based  on  the  reports  in  our  daily  press,  which 
with  wearying  regularity,  have  told  of  Cen- 
tral American  revolutions  and  border  war- 
fare, or  of  the  uprising  of  an  Indian  tribe  in 
Tehuantepec  or  in  Patagonia.  We  have  come 
to  consider  that  these  mimic  wars,  that  have 
had  about  as  much  influence  on  the  world  at 
large  as  a battle  of  kites  generated  by  school- 
boys, are  characteristic  of  all  our  Latin 
neighbors.  Yet  there  is  a very  great  differ- 
ence between  Chile  and  Nicaragua,  or  between 
the  Argentine  and  Guatemala,  though,  to  the 
average  European  or  North  American,  they 
may  seem  to  be  of  equal  non-importance. 


I 


tarred  with  the  same  brush,  and  offering  al- 
lurements only  to  venturesome  spirits  who 
would  go  forth  in  search  of  the  lost  “El 
Dorado’^  or  the  fabled  fountain  of  youth. 

There  are  several  reasons  that  explain,  at 
least  in  part,  why  Latin  America,  and,  espe- 
cially, that  part  known  as  South  America,  has 
so  long  been  “The  Neglected  Continent,’’ 
unknown  and  unappreciated  by  the  rest  of 
the  busy  world. 

In  the  first  place,  it  lies  to  the  far  South,  * 
entirely  off  the  usual  lines  of  travel.  Even 
our  own  Northern  and  Southern  Cities  and 
States  are  less  known  than  those  that  lie 
along  the  great  transcontinental  railways. 
The  Twin  Cities  and  New  Orleans  are  less 
advantageously  placed  than  Philadelphia, 
Pittsburgh,  Chicago,  and  Kansas  City,  and 
Denver,  the  gateways  to  the  East  or  the  West. 

Our  American  tourists  are  more  ubiquitous 
than  those  of  any  other  country.  They  visit 
even  the  most  recondite  corners  of  Europe 
and  of  the  far  East,  climb  to  the  roof  of  the 
world  in  the  Himalayas,  wander  through  the 
vales  of  Cashmere,  and  lose  themselves  among 
the  isles  of  the  sea.  But  few  of  them  swing 
to  the  South  to  make  a personal  acquaintance 
with  the  lands  and  peoples  that  lie  down  be- 
yond the  rim  of  the  earth,  where  the  South- 
ern Cross  blazes  overhead;  the  Fourth  of  July 
is  celebrated  in  mid-winter;  and  Christmas 
in  the  heat  of  summer. 

The  lack  of  great  diplomatic  problems  have  » 
also  contributed  toward  making  and  keeping 
Latin  America  a land  of  mystery.  We  have 
comparatively  little  commerce  below  the  Rio 
Grande,  and  our  benevolent  Monroe  Doc- 
trine has  prevented  the  European  powers 
from  making  of  Latin  America  a battle 
ground  for  new  territory.  The  wars  of  the 
Latin  states  have  not  jeopardized,  in  general, 
the  lives  or  properties  of  foreigners  and  our 
own  State  department  and  the  chancellories 
of  Europe  have  not  been  called  upon  to  in- 
terfere or  to  exercise  their  good  ofdces  in  the 
making  of  peace, — as  has  been  done  in  the 
Russo-Japanese  conflict,  the  Italo-Turkish 
imbroglio,  or  the  more  recent  Balkan  con- 
flagration. Consequently,  our  people  have  not 


2 


been  educated  by  the  public  press  as  to  the 
geography,  area,  and  possible  value  of  Latin 
lands,  and  they  have  been  left  to  work  out 
their  destiny  in  practically  their  own  way. 
As  regards  our  own  Government  and  its  re- 
lations to  its  weaker  brothers  to  the  South, 
too  often  an  ultimatum  is  issued  without 
proper  investigation,  or  a debt  is  forcibly 
collected  from  a small  and  frightened  gov- 
ernment,— and  the  enmity  of  a people  in- 
curred to  the  detriment  of  our  social  and  com- 
mercial prestige  for  many  years  to  come. 

Still  another  explanation  of  the  lack  of 
exact  knowledge,  in  regard  to  conditions  that 
prevail  in  Latin  America,  may  be  found  in 
the  fact  that  comparatively  slight  emphasis 
has  been  laid  on  the  work  that  our  Protestant*^ 
churches  are  doing  in  Eoman  Catholic  coun- 
tries. There  are  many  excellent  people,  not 
a few  of  them  in  our  own  communion,  who, 
because  of  this  lack  of  knowledge  of  the 
real  religious  conditions  that  prevail  in  Latin, 
and,  hence.  Catholic  America,  do  not  sympa- 
thize with  the  work  our  Mission  Boards  are 
doing  among  our  Roman  Catholic  neighbors. 
Acquainted  with  the  work  and  influence  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  church  only  in  this  land, 
possibly  only  in  their  own  village,  where  it 
is  hedged  about  and  kept  within  certain 
bounds  by  an  overwhelming  Protestant  tra- 
dition and  sentiment:  considering  its  exten- 
sive and  well  managed  philanthropic  institu- 
tions, and  the  restraining  influence  that  its 
priesthood, — which  in  this  country,  is,  gen- 
erally, comparatively  cultured,  temperate,  and 
moral, — has  upon  the  great  number  of  illit- 
erate and  vicious  Catholic  workmen  who  come 
to  us  from  Southern  Europe;  remembering 
certain  godly  men  and  women,  of  Catholic 
faith,  who  are  honored  members  of  the  com- 
munity; in  a word,  judging  the  whole  Catho- 
lic system  by  what  can  be  observed  in  a very 
limited  sphere,  many  are  quick  to  conclude 
that  Catholicism  as  seen  in  Protestant  Amer- 
ica or  England  is  the  same  that  maintains  in 
other  lands.  Hence,  they  claim,  there  is  small 
need  of  our  sending  missionaries  to  subvert 
that  faith  and  establish  Protestant  work 
among  Roman  Catholic  peoples. 


3 


This  view  of  individuals  has  become  so 
generalized  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
introduce  into  missionary  conventions  a dis- 
cussion or  presentation  of  the  needs  of  Eoman 
Catholic  lands. 

In  view  of  the  widespread  and  eminently 
successful  attempt  on  the  part  of  Eome  to 
keep  concealed  her  real  doctrines  and  inten- 
tions, as  well  as  the  disastrous  effect  these 
doctrines  and  teachings  have  had  on  the 
peoples  that  have  been  so  unfortunate  as  to 
fall  under  her  control,  it  is  not  strange  that 
Protestant  America  has  been  deceived  and 
led  to  look  upon  the  great  and  pow^srful 
Eoman  Catholic  organization  as  a part  of 
the  federation  of  Christian  churches.  Many 
do  not  know  that  even  Eoman  Catholics  from 
the  United  States  do  not  recognize  their  own 
church  as  they  find  it  in  Latin  America,  and 
have  no  hesitancy  in  saying  that  in  those 
lands  it  has  failed  to  live  up  to  a splendid 
opportunity  and,  as  it  exists  to-day,  is  not 
worthy  their  loyalty  and  support.  And,  yet, 
it  is  in  the  republics  of  Latin  America,  as 
in  Spain  and  Portugal,  the  mother  countries, 
that  Eoman  Catholicism  has  given  full  fruit- 
age, and  it  is  by  its  fruits  in  those  lands 
that  one  must  judge  the  system.  In  this 
paper  it  shall  be  the  object  of  the  writer 
to  interest  his  readers  in  Latin  America  by 
showing  that  it  is  a land  of  splendid  possi- 
bilities and  of  unusual  promise;  that  the  peo- 
ples who  inhabit  it  merit  our  kindest  con- 
sideration and  our  most  distinterested  coun- 
sel; and  that  the  many  and  vexing  problems 
which  are  to  be  met  in  those  lands  can  be 
solved  by  the  people  only  through  help  that 
must  go  to  them  from  this  our  own  great 
Protestant  Christian  America. 


4 


I 


THE  LAND 

According  to  the  statistics  published  by 
the  Pan-American  Union,  of  Washington,  the 
total  area  of  the  twenty-one  American  re- 
publics is,  approximately,  12,000,000  square 
miles.  Of  this  total,  9,000,000  square  miles 
belong  to  the  twenty  Latin  republics  and  the 
remaining  3,000,000  to  the  Anglo-American 
republic,  the  United  States  of  America.  In 
other  words,  Latin  America  has  three  times 
the  area  of  our  own  country,  instead  of  being, 
as  some  one  has  expressed  it,  “a  mere  hand- 
ful of  little  warring  republics.” 

If  we  compare  the  two  grand  divisions  of 
land,  North  America  and  South  America, 
which  is  the  bulk  of  Latin  America,  we  will 
find  that  there  is  but  little  difference  in 
area.  But,  if  we  eliminate  from  North  Amer- 
ica all  that  part  made  uninhabitable  because 
of  the  extreme  cold,  we  will  find  that  there 
is  a larger  habitable  area  in  the  Southern 
half  of  the  continent  than  in  the  Northern. 

In  this  connection  it  may  also  be  noticed 
that  what  we  call  South  America,  while  it 
lies  South,  is  also  East,  of  North  America. 
This  easting  of  the  Southern  half  of  the 
Western  Continent,  a feature  that  is  gener- 
ally overlooked  by  those  who  are  not  espe- 
cially interested  in  American  history  and 
geography,  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Isthmus 
of  Panama  runs  almost  East  and  West. 
Consequently,  the  Panama  Canal  will  run 
almost  North  and  South,  rather  slightly  from 
Northwest  to  Southeast. 

Another  result  of  this  easting  of  South 
America  is  the  placing  of  its  Eastern  coasts 
near  the  markets  and  influences  of  the  old 
world.  And  still  another  is  the  making  of 
almost  a direct  route  from  New  York,  our 
principal  port,  to  the  West  coast  of  South 
America,  when  the  canal  is  finished.  Panama 
lies  two  thousand  miles  almost  due  South  of 
New  York,  and  Valparaiso  de  Chile,  the  prin- 
cipal port  on  the  Western  littoral  of  South 
America,  three  thousand  miles  south  of  Pan- 
ama. in  almost  the  same  straight  line,  exactly 
in  the  longitude  of  Boston. 


5 


And  here  it  may  be  said,  as  we  think  of 
the  probable  influence  of  the  Panama  Canal 
on  our  commercial  relations  with  South 
America,  that  our  exports  to  the  Latin  re- 
publics are  $200,000,000  a year  less  than  our 
neighbors  to  the  South  succeed  in  selling  us. 
During  the  last  year  for  which  statistics 
are  available,  we  exported  only  $247,000,- 
000  in  products  and  manufactures,  while  we 
bought  from  Latin  America  to  the  value  of 
$444,000,000. 

Not  only  is  Latin  America,  as  a whole,  of 
surprising  and  unexpected  interest,  but  the 
individual  states  have  each  an  attractive- 
ness unnoticed  by  the  casual  observer. 

Brazil,  the  largest  of  the  Latin  republics, 
and  which  occupies  one  half  of  all  South 
America,  is  as  large  as  the  United  States, 
or  the  whole  of  Europe.  Its  great  river  sys- 
tem, that  of  the  Amazon,  offers  to  the  world 
50,000  miles  of  navigable  water, — or  twice 
the  distance  around  the  earth  on  the  equator. 
It  ranks  fourth  in  size  among  the  countries 
of  the  world,  forms  one  flfth  of  the  Western 
Hemisphere,  and  one  flfteenth  of  the  world's 
total  land  area.  There  are  in  its  interior 
vast  unexplored  districts,  inhabited  by  can- 
nibal tribes  of  Indians  of  whose  numbers 
only  conjectures  can  be  made,  since  their 
hunting  grounds  are  a bourne  from  whence 
no  white  traveller  has  ever  returned.  The 
population  of  the  entire  republic  is  estimated 
to  be  between  flfteen  and  twenty  millions, 
but  no  exact  figures  can  be  given.  Brazil 
•is  a land  of  “magnificent  distances,”  and  so 
widely  separated  are  some  of  its  districts 
that  their  respective  inhabitants  know  less 
of  each  other  than  they  know  of  some  of  the 
European  countries.  The  forests  produce  not 
only  the  famous  brazil  wood,  from  which  the 
country  received  its  name,  but  also  mahog- 
any and  other  fine  woods  which  are  as  com- 
mon in  the  uses  of  the  country  as  are  the 
ash  or  the  oak  with  us;  while  its  coffee 
plantations  could  supply  the  world  with  a 
“cup  that  cheers  but  inebriates  not,”  and 
its  diamond  fields  vie  with  the  Kimberley 
mines  of  South  Africa  in  the  production  of 
precious  stones.  The  capital  city,  Rio  de 


6 


Janeiro,  with  its  million  inhabitants,  is  a 
city  of  peculiar  attractiveness,  and  is  situ- 
ated on  what  is  called  the  most  splendid 
harbor  in  the  world. 

Uruguay,  a small  republic  to  the  South, 
boasts  a dollar  that  is  worth  more,  intrin- 
sically, than  the  American  dollar;  while 
Paraguay,  in  the  interior,  where  the  women 
exceed  the  men  in  population,  sometimes  as 
four  to  one,  is  noted  for  the  famous  mate, 
a kind  of  tea  that  is  the  South  American 
beverage. 

Across  the  Kio  de  la  Plata,  the  Silver 
River,  and  to  the  South,  lies  one  of  the  most 
interesting  of  all  the  Latin  nations,  the 
Argentine  Republic.  Larger  than  Russia  in 
Europe  and  equal  to  about  one  third  the 
area  of  the  United  States,  it  embraces  all 
kinds  of  climate,  from  the  tropical  to  the 
antarctic,  and  all  conditions  of  life.  To  the 
North  and  West  lies  the  Gran  Chaco. 

“The  Gran  Chaco,  a great  country,  still, 
for  the  most  part,  a wilderness,  is  a region 
of  dim  tropical  forest,  where  the  parrots, 
birds  of  paradise,  and  brilliant  butterflies 
vie  with  those  of  the  Amazon;  a hot  re- 
gion where  the  monkey  and  the  land 
crab  flourish  exceedingly,  and  where  the 
savage  Indians  stiU  hunt  down  with  primi- 
tive weapons,  the  jaguar  and  the  puma.”* 
South  of  the  Gran  Chaco  are  spread  out  the 
great  pampas,  or  plains,  where  one  may  ride 
for  hours  over  a railway  as  straight  as  a line 
and  see  only  the  rolling  prairies,  with  here 
and  there  the  whitewashed  walls  of  the 
estancia  buildings  to  break  the  monotony; 
great  herds  of  cattle,  that  seem  to  roam  at 
will,  standing  knee  deep  in  richest  pastures; 
fields  of  grain  that  equal  those  of  our  own 
great  middle  West;  until  at  last  the  railway 
sets  one  down  in  the  midst  of  a splendid 
capital  city  of  1,300,000  inhabitants,  that 
presents  all  the  comforts  and  commodities, 
most  of  the  virtues  and  all  the  vices,  of  the 
great  European  Capitols. 

And  still  further  South  extend  the  barren 
steppes  of  Patagonia,  reaching  down  to  the 

* Martin  Hume,  in  introduction  to  “Argen- 
tine,” by  W.  A.  Hirst. 


7 


waters  of  Magellan’s  Straits,  where  a few 
miserable  Indians  still  manage  to  live  in  the 
midst  of  conditions  that  make  of  life  one 
long  struggle  for  mere  existence,  and  reduce 
human  beings  to  the  absolute  level  of  the 
beasts  that  inhabit  the  caves  in  the  hills, 
their  four-footed  comrades  in  misery.  Ko 
country  in  the  world,  to-day,  gives  promise 
of  such  a splendid  future  as  does  the  Ar- 
gentine Eepublic.  Its  cereal  products  are 
being  poured  into  Europe  to  such  an  extent 
that  it  is  already  called  “The  Granary  of 
Europe.”  Special  lines  of  steamers  carry 
its  meats,  many  of  these  vessels  built  to 
store  away  in  their  vast  interiors  as  many 
as  145,000  carcasses  of  sheep.  These  great 
refrigerator  boats  are  scheduled  to  reach  the 
Thames  with  the  regularity  of  express  trains, 
for  Great  Britain,  and,  particularly  London, 
with  its  seven  millions  of  inhabitants,  de- 
pend on  them  for  a large  part  of  their 
meat  supply.  This  meat  reaches  the  con- 
sumer in  perfect  condition  and  costs  him 
about  ten  cents  a pound  less  than  our  meats 
cost  us  in  the  cities  of  the  United  States, 
thanks  to  our  benign  protective  tariff. 

Chile  lies  to  the  West  of  the  Argentine 
and  is  separated  from  it  by  the  high  wall 
of  the  Andes  Mountains,  which,  in  hoary 
Aconcagua,  reach  the  second  highest  point  on 
the  Earth’s  surface  and  form  the  very  roof 
of  the  Western  Hemisphere,  more  than 
23,000  feet  above  the  waters  of  the  Pacific 
that  roll  below.  Of  Aconcagua  we  might 
say,  using  Byron’s  description  of  Mont 
Blanc: 

“Aconcagua  is  the  monarch  of  mountains; 
They  crowned  him  long  ago. 

On  a throne  of  rocks,  with  a robe  of  clouds, 
And  a diadem  of  snow. 

Around  his  waist  are  forests  braced. 

The  avalanche  in  his  hand. 

Yet,  ere  it  fall,  that  pondrous  ball 
Must  pause  for  my  command. 

I am  the  spirit  of  the  place, 

Could  make  this  mountain  bow 
And  tremble  to  its  serried  base, — 

And  what  with  me  wouldst  thou!  ” 


8 


The  republic  of  Chile,  whose  inhabitants  are 
known  as  “the  English, “ or  “the  Yankees, 
of  South  America,  “ stretches  from  north  to 
south,  along  the  Western  coast  of  South 
America,  through  more  than  38°  of  latitude, 
or  almost  three  thousand  miles.  It  is  more 
than  four  times  the  length  of  California, 
though  it  has  but  twice  the  area  of  that 
state  and  varies  in  width  from  65  to  185 
miles.  The  Northern  extremity  lies  in  the 
torrid  zone  and  the  coast  stretches  thence 
southward  to  the  Land  of  Fire  and  Cape 
Horn,  where  the  two  seas  tumultuously  meet, 
“Three  thousand  miles  of  a sunset  littoral. “ 
The  wonderful  nitrate  beds  of  the  North  have 
already  poured  into  the  coffers  of  the  State, 
in  a little  more  than  thirty  years,  more  than 
$425,000,000  in  gold,  or  60%  of  the  income 
of  the  government.  Central  Chile  is  given 
over  to  agriculture  and  fruit  raising,  and 
the  far  South  is  admirably  fitted  for  sheep- 
raising, especially  the  hills  of  Southern  Pata- 
gonia and  the  territory  adjacent  to  the 
Straits  of  Magellan.  A small  dot  in  the  sea, 
to  the  West  of  Valparaiso,  marks  the  island 
of  Juan  Fernandez,  the  home  of  Defoe  ^s 
Robinson  Cruso,  whose  story,  translated  into 
many  tongues,  has  delighted  millions  of  boy 
readers  all  round  the  world. 

North  of  Chile  is  Bolivia,  “the  Hermit 
Republic,’^  perched  up  among  the  crags  and 
mountain  plateaus,  sharing  with  Paraguay 
the  doubtful  advantage  of  having  no  coast 
line  to  protect  in  case  of  war.  The  Capital 
City,  La  Paz,  lies  at  an  altitude  of  12,470 
feet  above  the  sea,  the  highest  capital  city 
in  the  world,  while  just  above  the  city,  on 
the  border  between  Bolivia  and  Peru,  lies 
a great  inland  sea,  more  than  two  miles  ver- 
tically above  the  Pacific,  about  as  high  as 
the  Jungfrau,  and  with  the  area  of  Lake 
Erie,  on  which  one  can  sail  out  of  sight  of 
land.  This  great  lake,  Titicaca,  lies  12,645 
feet  above  the  sea  and  is  one  of  the  sources 
of  the  Amazon,  which  thus  runs  almost  from 
sea  to  sea,  practically  cutting  the  continent 
in  two. 

On  the  plateau  of  Titicaca  are  to  be  found 
the  wonderful  ruined  temples  of  the  pre* 


9 


Tnean  civilization,  one  of  the  inexplainable 
mysteries  of  the  prehistoric  ages.  “The  Mys- 
tery consists  in  the  existence  of  mins  of  a 
great  city  on  the  Southern  side  of  the  Lake, 
the  builders  being  entirely  unknown.  The 
City  covered  a large  area,  built  by  highly 
skilled  masons,  and  with  the  use  of  enormous 
stones.  One  stone  is  36  feet  long  by  7,  weigh- 
ing 170  tons;  another  26  feet  by  16  by  6. 
Apart  from  the  monoliths  of  ancient  Egypt, 
there  is  nothing  to  equal  this  in  any  other 
part  of  the  world.  ’ ’ * 

Continuing  to  the  North  from  Bolivia  one 
conies  to  Peru,  the  goal  of  the  ambitions  of 
the  illegitimate  swineherd  Pizarro,  El  Dorado 
of  the  Spanish  conquistadores  who,  with 
sword  on  hip  and  cross  in  hand,  with  the 
“name  of  Cristo  and  Maria  on  their  lips; 
with  oath  and  prayer,  with  cross  and  steel” 
turned  the  prow  of  their  unwieldy  caravels 
to  the  West  and  South,  where  there  were  em- 
pires to  be  plucked  as  ripe  fruit,  and  where 
they  expected  to  find  gold  as  common  as  coal. 
And  perhaps  in  those  hills  and  mines,  to- 
day, there  still  lie  hidden  riches  that  excel 
the  world’s  wildest  dreams,  that  rival  the 
fabulous  wealth  of  Anaconda: 

“Far  away,  in  some  region  old. 

Where  rivers  wander  o’er  sands  of  gold. 
Where  the  burning  rays  of  the  ruby  shine 
And  the  diamond  lights  up  the  secret  mine.” 

It  is  in  Peru,  also,  that  American  engi- 
neers built  what  is  the  highest  railroad  in 
the  world,  the  Oroya  Eailway,  that  reaches 
an  elevation  of  15,665  feet  above  the  sea. 

Lima,  the  capital  of  Peru,  was  the  seat  of 
the  Spanish  Viceroys,  and  there  a branch 
of  the  Inquisition  did  valiant  service  for  the 
Mother  Church.  The  Council  Chamber  of 
that  benevolent  body,  as  well  as  many  of  the 
instruments  of  torture,  and  a life-size  image 
of  the  Christ,  that  by  means  of  cords,  in- 
geniously manipulated,  nodded  the  head  and 
condemned  to  death  the  unfortunate  offender 
against  the  doctrines  of  Rome,  may  still  be 
seen.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  there  were 

* Sir  Clements  Markham,  “The  Incas  of 
Peru,”  pa^’e  23. 


10 


no  cords  by  which  the  figure  could  be  made 
to  give  a negative  vote.  But  the  modern 
Peruvians  have  changed  the  name  of  “La 
Plaza  de  la  Inquisicion,  “ one  of  the  principal 
public  squares  in  the  city,  and  are  not  proud 
of  their  city’s  connection  with  the  musty  and 
bloody  past. 

The  Northwestern  corner  of  South  Amer- 
ica is  occupied  by  Ecuador  and  the  two 
larger  republics,  Venezuela  and  Colombia.  All 
are  backward,  with  few  of  the  elements  that 
tend  to  make  a modern  progressive  nation. 
They  should  be  the  first  to  receive  new  im- 
pulses from  the  Panama  Canal,  which  is  soon 
to  be  opened  in  their  immediate  vicinity,  by 
which  they  will  be  brought  into  closer 
touch  with  “La  Gran  Republica  del  Norte.” 
But  many  years  must  pass  before  they  are 
worthy  of  comparison  with  the  republics  fur- 
ther South. 

Ecuador  was  ruled  dictatorially  for  a num- 
ber of  years  by  General  Alfaro,  the  Porfirio 
Diaz  of  his  country,  and  some  progress  was 
made  toward  modern  ideas  and  the  introduc- 
tion of  new  methods  of  instruction  in  the 
schools  of  the  state.  It  is  said  that  General 
Alfaro  was  influenced  in  his  own  life  and  in 
his  statecraft  by  the  reading  of  a Bible 
which  was  given  him  by  a Protestant  mis- 
sionary who  met  him  on  one  of  the  coast 
boats.  But  the  liberal  party  in  Ecuador  was 
overthrown  in  a recent  revolution  and  Gen- 
eral Alfaro  and  all  his  immediate  advisers 
were  barbarously  butchered  in  the  streets  of 
Quito,  the  capital  of  the  republic,  with  all 
that  wealth  of  cruelty  and  ferocious  aban- 
don which  so  often  characterize  Latin  mobs. 

Panama,  the  youngest  of  the  Latin  repub- 
lics, may  be  said  to  be  of  hybrid  birth,  since 
the  mother,  Colombia,  was  a Latin,  and  the 
father,  the  United  States,  a “Yankee” — 
for  it  is  known  that  it  is  due  only  to  the 
well  intentioned  efforts  of  our  own  land 
that  a part  of  Colombia  seceded  from  the 
mother  country  and  declared  itself  a free 
and  independent  republic. 

It  is  in  this  same  newest  republic  that  the 
world 's  greatest  engineering  task  is  being 
brought  to  a conclusion.  Human  ants  with 


Cyclopean  energies  are  digging  and  tunnel- 
ling through  the  rock  ribs  of  the  Culebra 
cut,  and  soon  the  two  oceans  will  be  united 
by  a completed  Panama  Canal  that  is  ex- 
pected to  be  a surprising  factor  in  world 
progress. 

To  the  north  and  west  of  Panama,  along 
a coast  line  that  stretches  800  miles  to  the 
Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec,  lie  the  other  five 
small  Central  American  republics;  and,  still 
farther  north,  the  ancient  empire  of  the 
Aztecs,  now  the  republic  of  Mexico.  The 
six  republics  occupy  a most  fertile  territory 
and  should  be  prosperous  nations.  Yet  their 
almost  continuous  wars  and  revolutions  have 
kept  them  back  in  the  march  toward  na- 
tional stability  and  real  progress,  and  their 
future  still  looks  dark. 

Lying  just  across  the  Rio  Grande,  Mexico, 
more  than  any  other  Latin  republic,  has  felt 
the  uplifting  influence  of  our  own  Anglo- 
Saxon  civilization.  Yet  recent  events  have 
shown  that  Mexico,  like  all  the  Latin  nations 
of  our  hemisphere,  still  lacks  those  great 
moral  qualities  that  alone  can  make  a na- 
tion permanently  great.  Its  boasted  prog- 
ress and  seeming  superiority  among  the  other 
Latin  republics,  have  proved  to  be  but  a 
thin  veneer  that  has  fallen  away  when  sub- 
jected to  the  fierce  heat  of  civil  dissension 
and  strife. 

With  the  forced  withdrawal  from  the  coun- 
try of  Mexico’s  ‘‘Grand  Old  Man,”  Porfirio 
Diaz,  the  entire  country  has  fallen  into  a 
state  of  civil  war  and  has  been  handed  over 
for  pillage  by  this  or  that  pretender  to 
power,  until  it  seems  possible  that  its  hither- 
to comparatively  stable  government  has 
fallen  to  rise  no  more.  And,  although  Mex- 
ico has  seemed  to  be  prosperous  and  stable, 
it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  the  Indians 
and  peon  class  of  that  land,  who  form  the 
great  bulk  of  the  population,  enjoy  life  any 
more,  or  have  any  clearer  conception  of  God 
and  the  life  to  come,  after  almost  four  hun- 
dred years  of  Latin  rule,  than  the  ancient 
Aztecs  did  during  the  unnumbered  centuries 
that  hoary  Popocatapetl  looked  down  on  the 
worship  of  pagan  deities,  until  the  hosts  of 


13 


Montezuma  were  overwhelmed  by  the  free- 
booters from  Spain  and  the  worship  of  a 
Christless  cross  supplanted  that  of  Huitzilo- 
potchli,  the  chief  of  their  many  deities. 

The  three  small  republics  of  the  West  In- 
dies complete  the  list  of  the  Latin  nations 
of  the  Western  Hemisphere.  But  these  three 
— Cuba,  Santo  Domingo,  and  Hayti — lying,  as 
they  do,  close  to  our  own  shores,  are  more 
intimately  known  by  our  own  people.  This 
is  particularly  true  of  Cuba,  ‘ ‘ the  Pearl  of 
the  Antilles,’^  through  its  connection  with 
the  Spanish-American  War  of  1898.  The 
other  two,  weak  and  badly  governed,  have 
demanded  a paternal  interest  on  the  part  of 
our  government  and  will  probably  never  have 
internal  peace  and  prosperity  until  they  find 
them  under  the  protecting  folds  of  our  flag. 


II 

THE  PEOPLE 

The  inhabitants  of  Latin  America  may  be 
divided  into  three  classes  of  individuals:  the 
Indians,  the  lower  or  peon  class,  descended 
from  Latin  ancestors,  who  were  immigrants, 
though  often  mixed  with  Indian  blood,  and 
the  upper  or  aristocratic,  landed  class. 

The  Indians  are  to  be  found  in  varying, 
and  often  diminishing,  numbers,  in  all  the 
Latin  republics  from  the  Rio  Grande  to  Cape 
Horn.  They  are  the  descendants  of  what 
were  formerly  strong  tribes  or  nations — such 
as  the  Aztecs,  in  Mexico;  the  Incas,  in  Peru; 
and  the  Arancanians,  in  Chile.  During  four 
centuries  of  Latin  rule,  those  who  have  come 
under  the  domination  of  their  conquerors  have 
fallen  far  from  the  high  state  of  daring  and 
rugged  health  which  they  once  held,  and  have 
become  mere  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers 
of  water;  while  other  tribes,  as  yet  un- 
touched by  the  white  man’s  civilization,  still 
lead  the  savage  life  they  have  led  for  un- 
numbered centuries,  even  to  the  practice  of 
cannibalism  on  their  conquered  foes. 

The  total  number  of  Indians  in  Latin 
America  is  largely  a matter  of  conjecture. 
Some  writers  place  the  estimate  as  high  as 


13 


twenty  millions,  though  fifteen  millions 
would  be  a more  probable  maximum.  For 
it  must  be  remembered  in  this  connection 
that  there  are  vast  unexplored  tracts  of  ter- 
ritory in  central  South  America,  larger  than 
the  unexplored  portions  of  Africa.  Of  the 
inhabitants  of  this  great  territory,  of  its 
scenic  wonders,  of  its  flora  and  its  fauna, 
we  can  have  no  exact  knowledge.  But  we 
know  that  on  its  borders,  where  the  wave 
of  so-called  civilization  has  rolled  up  from 
the  coasts,  and  where  the  white  man  has 
established  himself  by  force  of  arms,  the 
Indians  are  bought  and  sold  as  slaves;  and 
recent  investigations  by  the  British  and 
American  authorities  have  revealed  atroci- 
ties that  equal  the  crimes  committed  on  the 
indefensive  inhabitants  of  the  Congo  in  the 
name  and  by  authority  of  the  King  of  the 
Belgians. 

A friend  of  the  writer  of  these  lines,  for 
some  time  an  employe  in  the  Beni  rubber 
district,  has  told  of  seeing  men  and  women 
and  little  children  sold  into  slavery  for  a 
mere  song.  He,  himself,  he  said,  bought  a 
little  Indian  girl,  trading  for  her  a gun,  and, 
having  brought  her  down  to  the  coast,  had 
her  baptized  in  the  Catholic  faith  and  gave 
her  over  to  a Peruvian  officer  to  be  edu- 
cated. 

This  same  young  man  recounted  the  depri- 
vations and  perils  one  faces  who  goes  into 
that  mortiferous  region  in  search  of  that 
which  will  bring  one  gold;  relating,  among 
other  things,  that  the  only  meat  obtainable 
was  monkey  flesh,  and  adding  that  he  never 
overcame  a certain  squeamishness  at  finding 
in  the  soup  or  hash  a little  human-like  hand! 

For,  while  men,  and  even  women,  will  leave 
home  and  the  comforts  of  civilization,  and 
risk  almost  certain  disease  and  probable 
death,  in  their  pursuit  of  the  yellow  lure, 
few  are  to  be  found  who  will  go  into  those 
fever-infected  districts  in  order  to  carry  to 
those  silent,  suffering,  dark-skinned  children 
of  the  tropics  the  Story  which  they  have 
never  heard.  Only  a few  sporadic  attempts 
are  being  made  by  Protestant  churches  to 
reach  and  evangrelize  the  Indian  population 


U 


of  Latin  America,  and  the  Roman  Catholic 
church  does  nothing  until  goaded  into  action 
by  Protestant  successes.  And  even  Catholic 
writers  have  confessed  that  the  Indians  who 
have  come  into  touch  with  the  Europeans 
are  in  a worse  condition,  morally  and  phys- 
ically, than  they  were  before  the  coming  of 
the  representatives  of  the  Spanish  Church 
and  State,  almost  four  centuries  ago. 

The  Christian  churches  of  North  America 
do  well  to  think  of  the  pagan  lands  that  lie 
across  the  seas.  But  we  do  not  have  to 
leave  our  own  continent  to  find  pagans — 
millions  of  them — men,  women  and  little  chil- 
dren— sitting  on  our  own  doorstep  and  hun- 
gering for  the  spiritual  crumbs  that  fail 
from  our  loaded  tables.  The  missionary 
world  has  no  greater  need  to-day  than  that 
of  consecrated  messengers  of  the  Cross  who 
shall  carry  the  Gospel  Story  to  these  mil- 
lions of  fellow  Americans  who  are  born  and 
live  and  die  in  the  midst  of  pagan,  even 
cannibal,  darkness  and  go  down  to  the  gates 
of  death  with  no  knowledge  of  the  life  be- 
yond or  of  the  Christ  who  died  to  open  wide 
its  portals. 

Slightly  above  the  Indian  comes  the  lower 
class  descendant  of  the  European  stock,  the 
peon  or  working  class.  In  many  cases,  as 
shown  by  the  swarthy  complexion,  the 
straight  black  hair,  the  piercing  eye,  and  the 
general  bodily  build,  the  vintage  of  old  Spain 
has  been  enriched  and  strengthened  by  a 
generous  addition  of  the  Inca,  the  Arauca- 
nian,  the  Aztec,  or  other  Indian  blood.  The 
result  is  a race  of  men  that  can  stand  the 
hardest  work,  carry  the  heaviest  burdens, 
live  on  the  most  meagre  diet,  in  the  midst 
of  squalor  and  filth  indescribable,  and  at  the 
same  time  look  out  on  life  with  a fatalistic 
joyousness  that  has  rarely,  if  ever,  been 
equalled  in  the  history  of  the  human  race. 

The  Chilean  roto,  for  example — ^literally, 
the  “ragged  man” — if  he  could  be  freed 
from  the  thrall  of  alcohol  and  it's  kindred 
vices,  and  the  ills  that  go  with  them,  would 
be  unequalled  as  a laborer,  as  he  has  already 
proved  that  he  has  no  superior  in  war.  With 
a jest  on  his  lips  and  joy  in  his  heart  he 


15 


has  gone  forth  to  certain  death  at  the  can- 
non ’s  mouth,  glad  to  die  with  the  certainty 
that  another  will  close  the  ranks  and  carry 
his  flag  of  the  solitary  star  to  a post  of  honor 
on  the  enemy’s  highest  ramparts. 

And  yet  this  same  laboring  class,  the  pro- 
letariat of  Latin  America,  by  the  inexorable 
social  conditions  of  those  lands,  is  doomed 
to  a position  of  perpetual  peonage.  Its  men 
and  women  of  to-day  are  called  upon  to  do 
the  most  menial  and  degrading  work,  and 
their  children  can  but  look  forward  to  the 
same  unvarying  round  in  the  years  to  come. 
Neither  Church  nor  State  has,  to  any  ex- 
tent, interested  itself  in  bettering  their  con- 
dition. In  the  foul  atmosphere  of  filthy  tene- 
ment houses,  or  in  the  thatched  hovels  of 
the  villages  and  farms,  in  bamboo  huts  along 
the  great  rivers  of  the  tropics,  men  and 
women  cohabit  and  families  are  brought  into 
being,  with  no  sanction  or  hindrance  on  the 
part  of  civil  or  ecclesiastical  authorities;  and 
the  landed  proprietors  of  Latin  America  do 
not  hesitate  to  say  that  they  do  not  favor 
the  education  of  its  laboring  class,  the  Helot 
of  modern  times.  Its  present  position,  much 
like  that  of  the  serfs  in  the  feudal  system, 
keeps  it  in  subjection,  while  education  by 
the  inculcation  of  new  ideas,  would  tend  to 
raise  it  above  its  present  level,  and  higher 
wages  and  better  conditions  of  living  would 
be  demanded  from  the  employer.  But  there 
are  signs  that  this  great  class  of  oppressed 
human  beings  is  beginning  to  awake,  that  it  is 
beginning  to  feel  its  enormous  strength.  And 
when  organized  labor  comes  to  be  a reality 
in  Latin  America,  may  God  help  those  who 
have  been  its  oppressors  through  all  these 
hundreds  of  years. 

Between  this  working  lower  class  of  citi- 
zens and  the  upper  ruling  class  there  is  a 
great  gulf  fixed  which  with  difficulty  is 
crossed,  save  it  be  on  a bridge  of  gold.  The 
accidental  discovery  of  a mine  has  more  than 
once  lifted  a family  of  the  peon  class  to  the 
exclusive  circles  of  the  favored  few;  yet  the 
aristocracy  of  birth,  together  with  the  pos- 
session of  riches,  forms  an  almost  insur- 
mountable barrier  to  those  who  would  climb 


i6 


from  the  lower  levels.  The  land  and  the 
wealth  of  most  communities  is  in  the  hands 
of  a few.  Chile ’s  tillable  soil  is  held  by 
seven  per  cent,  of  the  population.  Though 
republics  in  name,  the  rule  in  general  is  that 
of  an  oligarchy,  the  principal  offices  rarely 
going  to  one  outside  of  a particular  circle  of 
connected  families.  Wealth  is  necessary  to 
the  holding  of  office.  Votes  are  openly  bought 
and  sold,  and  no  shame  is  attached  to  the 
fact  that  a Congressman-elect,  or  even  the 
President,  holds  his  place  because  of  the 
careful  and  judicious  distribution  of  his  own 
or  his  family’s  money.  Senate  committees 
to  investigate  the  purchase  of  votes  have 
not  yet  come  into  vogue  along  the  equator. 

With  the  wealth  of  this  ruling  class  goes 
also  a large  degree  of  culture  and  luxury. 
There  are  splendid  mansions,  splendidly  fur- 
nished, and  many  families  that  lead  an  ideally 
affectionate  home  life.  Parents  and  children 
have  travelled  and  it  is  no  unusual  accom- 
plishment to  speak  correctly  three  or  more 
foreign  tongues.  The  toilettes  and  the  car- 
riages of  the  evening  drive  in  many  of  the 
South  American  capitals  compare  very  favor- 
ably, if  they  do  not  even  equal,  those  seen 
in  the  Bois  de  Boulogne,  Rotten  Row,  Unter 
den  Linden,  or  on  Fifth  Avenue. 

The  two  extremes  of  poverty  and  wealth 
exist  side  by  side,  but  there  is  no  bond  of 
union  between  them.  In  time  of  war,  the 
lower  class  citizens  do  the  fighting,  generally 
without  knowing  just  why,  but  their  officers, 
whether  on  land  or  sea,  come  from  the  upper 
or  near  rich  class.  The  men  of  meaner  mold 
are  considered  as  proper  food  for  the  can- 
non, but  always  in  the  interest  of  their  more 
fortunate  fellows.  There  are  few  things  more 
touching  in  history  than  the  devotion  and 
loyalty  with  which  the  lower  class  of  Latin 
America  has  blindly  followed  and  fought  for 
now  this  or  that  upstart  politician,  who 
thought  to  wrest  the  rule  from  one  who  had 
already  gained  it  at  the  urns,  or  by  revolu- 
tion. And  whether  their  leader  has  succeed- 
ed or  failed,  the  low-caste  soldiers  have  re- 
turned to  their  miserable  huts — those  who 
remain  after  the  fighting  is  over — and  to  the 


17 


same  round  of  unvarying  hunger  and  rags 
until  another  aspirant  for  power  enlists  their 
services. 

The  negro  of  the  United  States,  especially 
in  the  Northern  States,  occupies  a position 
of  greater  promise,  as  regards  his  future, 
among  his  white  fellow  citizens,  than  does 
the  lower  class  Latin  among  those  of  his  own 
blood  and  color.  The  peon’s  life  is  atune  to 
a minor  note  and  he  sings  a miserere  more 
often  than  a jubilate. 

Ill 

THE  PROBLEMS 

The  population  of  Latin  America,  accord- 
ing to  statistics  published  by  the  Pan-Amer- 
ican Union,  is  seventy  millions  as  against 
ninety  millions  in  the  United  States.  To 
determine  the  Latin  population  of  the  twenty- 
one  republics  in  the  Western  Hemisphere, 
however,  we  must  add  to  the  70,000,000,  who 
live  south  of  the  Eio  Grande,  the  8,000,000 
who  live  in  the  United  States,  and  we  will 
have  78,000,000  Latins  and  82,000,000  non- 
Latins.  To  make  the  division  on  religious 
grounds,  we  would  have  to  add  to  the  70,- 
000,000  of  Eoman  Catholics  in  Latin  America 
the  15,000,000  which  that  church  claims  in 
the  United  States,  and  we  will  have  85,000,000 
of  Eoman  Catholics,  as  against  75,000,000 
non-Catholics — it  being  remembered  that  of 
the  75,000,000  of  non-Catholics  not  more  than 
one  third,  or  25,000,000,  are  connected  with 
the  Protestant  churches  of  the  United  States. 

For  Latin  America  is  practically  99%  Eo- 
man Catholic.  Millions  of  the  Indians  have 
never  heard  the  Gospel,  and  millions  of  those 
of  European  descent  have  heard  it  but  par- 
tially and  in  a debased  form.  But  the  Holy 
Eoman  Catholic  Apostolic  Church  claims  all 
our  Southern  continent  as  its  own,  resents 
any  intrusion  on  the  part  of  Protestant 
churches — and  hence  must  bear  the  respon- 
sibility of  the  religious  conditions  and  needs 
of  the  people  whom  it  claims  as  its  children. 
The  problems,  then,  that  are  found  in  Latin  • 
America  have  their  source  in  the  almost  un- 
limited influence  of  the  Eoman  Catholic  hier- 


i8 


archy;  in  the  conditions  of  society  that  have 
grown  out  of  that  church’s  untrammeled 
power  during  almost  four  centuries,  in  which 
it  has  molded  as  it  would  the  plastic  natures 
of  the  kind-hearted  and  easily-influenced 
Latin  peoples. 

For  it  must  be  again  remembered  that  when 
the  Spanish  conquerors  took  possession  of  the 
wide  lands  which  by  conquest  of  arms  they 
had  won  for  their  king,  they  flung  to  the 
breeze  not  only  the  royal  colors  of  their 
monarch,  Charles  the  Fifth,  but  they  also 
set  up  the  standard  of  the  Pope  of  Kome. 
Three  hundred  years  later,  inspired  by  the 
example  set  by  the  English  colonies  of  North 
America,  and  to  escape  absorption  by  the 
would-be  world  empire  of  the  Little  Corsican, 
the  colonies  thus  founded  by  Spain  shook  off 
her  yoke  and  declared  themselves  to  be  free 
and  independent  nations.  But  the  yoke  of 
Rome  had  been  too  firmly  riveted  on  their 
shoulders  and,  even  in  the  hour  of  their  seem- 
ing freedom,  they  showed  their  real  bondage 
by  allowing  their  religious  masters  to  in- 
scribe in  the  pages  of  their  new-born  consti- 
tutions these  fateful  words:  “The  religion  of 
this  state  shall  be  the  Holy  Roman  Catholic, 
to  the  exclusion  of  all  others.” 

To-day  liberal  statesmen,  in  most  of  the 
republics,  give  a liberal  interpretation  to  this 
clause  of  the  constitution,  and  Protestant 
services  are  permitted — even  protected — in 
private  houses,  or  in  buildings  that  do  not 
too  closely  resemble  churches  in  their  outward 
construction.  And,  in  some  of  the  more  ad- 
vanced republics,  even  churcET  buildings  are 
being  erected,  with  the  tolerance  of  liberal 
governments;  but  the  State  Church  is  ever 
awake  to  guard  its  own  interests,  and  its 
priests  foment  persecution  of  Protestant  work 
whenever  possible.  The  dedication  of  a Pres- 
byterian church,  on  a prominent  corner,  in 
Santiago  de  Chile,  recently  called  forth  a 
pastoral  letter  from  the  Archbishop  of  the 
country,  in  which  he  bitterly  denounced  all 
Protestants  and  warned  his  people  against 
attending  heretical  services,  the  reading  of 
pernicious  Protestant  literature,  and  the  lend- 
ing of  children  to  Evangelical  school!. 


19 


And  the  Archbishop  of  Venezuela  has  re- 
cently voiced  his  lament  at  Protestant  prog- 
ress in  that  stronghold  of  Eoine  and  recom- 
mends as  an  antidote  to  such  heretical  errors 
the  reading  of  a book  which  he  has  titled 
“Protestantism  Bankrupt,’’  and  which  he  de- 
scribes as  “pure  gold,  quickly  read,  written 
for  all  grades  of  intelligence,  and  leaves  every 
Protestant  objection  not  a single  leg  to  stand 
on!  ’ ’ 

The  question  is  often  asked,  in  all  sincerity, 
by  members  of  our  churches  in  America,  “Are 
missionaries  doing  a legitimate  and  necessary 
work  in  Latin,  that  is  to  say,  Eoman  Cath- 
olic, America?” 

The  question  might  be  answered  dogmat- 
ically and  in  the  afdrmative  by  all  mission- 
aries and  non-prejudiced  travellers  who  un- 
derstand the  social  and  religious  conditions 
of  Latin  America;  but  such  a reply  would 
convince  no  one.  In  the  following  pages  a 
few  of  the  needs  of  Latin  America  will  be 
given  in  the  barest  outlines,  and  readers  may 
judge  as  to  the  necessity  of  Christian  work 
among  its  peoples. 

A.  The  great  need  of  Latin  America  is  the 
Word  of  God.  In  all  Catholic  lands,  and 
wherever  that  Church  has  power  to  work  its 
will,  the  Bible  is  a prohibited  book.  There  » 
are  versions,  as  the  Douay  in  English.  But 
such  versions  are  made  to  suit  the  church, 
not  the  church  to  conform  in  its  teachings 
to  the  Word  of  God.  They  are  not  true  to 
the  original.  The  Word  is  deliberately  gar- 
bled and  perverted  to  uphold  the  false  teach- 
ings of  Eome.  Peter  said  he  was  an  “elder,” 
but  this  version  (the  Douay)  says  “priest.” 
Paul  tells  Timothy  he  was  ordained  by  the 
laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  “presbytery,” 
but  this  version  says  “priesthood.”  Christ 
said:  “Except  ye  repent  ye  shall  likewise 
perish,”  but  this  version  says,  “Except  ye 
do  penance.”  Thus,  the  Scriptures  are  per- 
verted so  that  the  priesthood  may  have  power 
over  the  people  and  exact  from  them  their 
tribute  in  the  way  of  money  for  penance,  in 
the  salvation  of  souls.*  And  not  only  is  a 

♦ “The  Herald  and  Presbyter,”  of  Cincinnati, 
Ohio. 


20 


garbled  Word  taught  in  pseudo  Bibles,  but 
also  on  the  walls  of  churches  and  in  the 
references  to  the  saints.  On  a tablet  beside 
the  door  of  the  Jesuit  Church  in  Cuzco  one 
may  read  what,  at  first,  seem  to  be  the  words 
of  the  wondrously  sweet  Royal  Invitation  of 
our  Lord.  But  one,  in  reality,  reads:  “Come 
to  Mary,  all  you  who  are  laden  with  works, 
and  weary  beneath  the  weight  of  your  sins, 
and  she  will  alleviate  you.” 

Every  attempt  is  made  by  the  Church  to 
prevent  the  sale  of  Bibles.  When  a colpor- 
teur has  succeeded  in  selling  portions  of  the 
Sacred  Book,  or  the  Bible  entire,  or  even 
Evangelical  literature,  the  priest  of  the  vil- 
lage or  town  will,  if  possible,  collect  the 
same  and  burn  them.  One  such  colporteur 
narrowly  escaped  being  thrown  into  the 
flames  with  his  Bibles,  a few  years  ago,  in 
Cochabamba,  the  most  cultured  city  of  Bo- 
livia. And  two  years  ago,  Ricardo  Nunez,  a 
humble  convert  to  Protestantism,  in  Chile,  in 
the  attempt  ti  give  the  Bible  to  his  fanati- 
cal countrymen  in  the  mountain  districts,  was 
foully  slain.  And,  although  the  Presbyterian 
Mission  in  Chile  pointed  out  the  assassin  that 
sped  the  bullet,  no  attempt  was  made  by  the 
Catholic  judge  to  punish  him.  [Even  to  this 
extent  of  murder  does  Rome  go  in  her  attempt 
to  keep  from  the  people  the  Bread  of  Life.] 
“The  South  American  religion  is  the  one  re- 
ligion in  the  world  which  has  no  Sacred  Book 
for  the  people.  In  China,  the  great  ambition 
of  the  whole  nation  for  centuries  has  been  to 
master  the  Classics.  In  Moslem  lands,  the 
Koran  is  the  most  exalted  of  all  books  and 
the  ideal  of  the  educated  man  has  been  to 
be  able  to  read  it  in  Arabic,  in  its  miraculous 
purity.  Hindus  and  Buddhists  have  had  their 
sacred  books  open  to  all  who  would  study 
them.  But  in  South  America  we  have  had 
the  phenomenon  of  a land  in  the  complete 
control  of  a church  which  has,  so  far  as  it 
could,  sealed  its  sacred  Scriptures  to  the 
people.”  * 

Dr.  Penzotti,  an  Italian  by  birth,  was  con- 
verted some  years  ago  in  Montevideo  and 
immediately  began  selling  the  Scriptures  in 

* R.  E.  Speer,  in  “South  American  Problems.” 


21 


South  and  Central  American  lands.  He  has 
travelled  very  extensively,  suffered  all  man- 
ner of  hardships,  including  eight  months  in 
prison  in  Peru,  and  to-day  as  head  agent  of 
the  Bible  Society,  in  Buenos  Ayres,  still  puts 
forth  every  effort  to  give  the  Word  to  needy 
Latin  America.  He  says:  “It  is  well  known 
that  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy  persecute  the 
Scriptures  more  than  Saul  persecuted  David, 
and  they  were  able  to  destroy  perhaps  three 
quarters  of  the  copies  we  distributed  in  our 
earlier  trips.”  Then  he  adds:  “I  have  no- 
ticed that  while  the  priests  burn  the  Bibles, 
the  people  take  their  images  of  all  sorts  and 
sizes  and  put  them  into  the  fire,  at  the  same 
time  abandoning  their  sins.”  * 

To  be  sure,  the  Church  of  Rome  claims  that 
it  circulates  the  Bible,  in  its  approved  ver- 
sion, and  that  it  may  be  freely  bought  by 
the  people.  This  may  be  true,  in  certain 
localities,  and  due  to  the  influence  of  ex- 
ceptional priests,  but  is  far  from  being  uni- 
versally true.  A missionary  long  resident  in 
Chile  recently  tried  to  buy  a copy  of  the 
Catholic  Bible,  in  Spanish,  in  the  capital  of 
that  republic.  He  searched  through  all  the 
book-stores  of  that  city  of  half  a million  in- 
habitants and  even  consulted  the  authorities 
of  the  Church.  At  last  he  found  one  copy 
of  the  Bible,  with  the  usual  explanatory  notes, 
in  five  volumes,  and  priced  at  eleven  dollars 
American  gold.  Evidently,  the  poor  work- 
ing class  of  that  great  city  has  no  access 
to  the  Word  of  God  through  the  efforts  of 
the  Church  of  Rome. 

That  Rome  deprives  her  people  of  the 
Bread  of  Life,  through  prohibitive  prices,  is 
true,  not  only  of  Latin  America,  but  even  in 
the  United  States,  where  the  claim  is  made 
by  many  of  the  priesthood  that  the  reading 
of  the  Bible  is  encouraged  by  the  Church  nf 
Rome.  A recent  search  for  a Catholic  Bible 
in  the  city  of  Lowell.  Mass.,  resulted  in  find- 
ing but  one  copy  in  a second-hand  book-store, 
and  that  was  priced  at  $2.75. 

B.  Because  of  the  suppression  of  the  Word 
of  God,  the  people  have  had  no  clear  vision 
of  either  God  the  Father  or  God  the  Son, 
♦ Quoted  by  Bishop  Neely  in  “South  America.” 


22 


and  the  hierarchy  has  been  able  to  make 
Mariolatry  the  national  cult.  The  image  that 
occupies  the  niche  of  honor  inside  the  tem- 
ple or  on  its  highest  pinnacle  or  flying  but- 
tress, is  that  of  the  Virgin.  Mary  is  patron 
saint  of  armies  and  navies,  and  Victory  is 
supposed  to  perch  on  her  banner  as  it  did  on 
that  of  Nike,  centuries  ago,  on  the  plains 
and  hills  of  Hellas.  The  Son  is  represented 
as  a child  in  his  mother’s  arms,  as  dead  on 
the  cross,  or,  bloody  and  inert,  lying  in  the 
tomb.  To  represent  Him  as  our  risen  Lord, 
triumphant  over  death,  would  lessen  the 
glory  that  is  Mary’s,  who  is  supposed  to  be 
our  intercessor  in  Heaven.  “Notre  Dame  de 
Lourdes,’’  of  Europe,  has  many  shrines,  un- 
der other  names,  in  America.  “Our  Lady  of 
Guadelupe,’’  in  Mexico;  “Our  Lady  of  An- 
dacoUo,’’  in  Chile;  and  “Our  Lady  of  Co- 
pacabana,’’  on  the  shores  of  Titicaca,  are 
but  distinct  names  for  the  same  Mary,  “The 
Mother  of  God,’’  the  “Queen  of  Heaven.’’ 
Of  Mary  the  people  are  taught  to  say:  “We 
have  seen  the  star,  and  are  come  to  adore 
her.’’  Many  French  dolls  have  been 
pressed  into  service  to  represent  the  “Aug- 
ust Mother  of  God,’’  and  these  images, 
whether  they  be  found  in  the  Eternal  City; 
among  the  villages  or  cities  of  poor  fallen 
Spain  or  Portugal;  watched  over  by  the  peas- 
antry of  Catholic  France;  or  in  the  shrines 
of  Latin  America,  are  loaded  with  jewels 
and  precious  stones  whose  price  has  been 
wrung  from  the  millions  of  pillaged  poor, 
who,  in  their  giving,  have  sought  in  vain  a 
solace  for  their  sorrows. 

C.  When  Christ  is  presented  to  the  people 
it  is  under  the  form  of  a hideous  image,  with 
blood  oozing  from  spear  thrust  and  thorn 
prick,  or  as  the  wafer  god,  which,  according 
to  the  Council  of  Trent,  has  all  the  nature, 
all  the  substance  and  personality  of  Christ. 
In  that  small  disc  of  wheaten  flour,  over 
which  a priest, — whether  he  be  good  or  bad, 
pure  or  impure, — has  pronounced  certain 
ritualistic  words,  there  is  not  only  the  spir- 
itual but  also  the  physical  substance  of  our 
Lord, — the  bones  and  muscles,  the  nerves  and 
blood,  the  hair  and  skin  and  nails.  In  the 


23 


procession  of  Corpus  Christi,  this  wafer  god 
is  carried  about  the  public  squares  or 
streets,  attended  by  a guard  of  soldiers;  it 
is  elevated  on  altars  erected  for  the  purpose 
in  order  that  all  may  see;  and  the  thousands 
of  deluded  devotees  fall  down  before  it  and 
worship  it  as  a real  manifestation  of  the  Son 
of  God.*  “Body  of  Christ,  the  feast  is 
named!  Think  of  it  well,  dear  homeland 
friends,  who  know  only  a Catholicism  modi- 
fied by  Protestantism;  think  of  it,  you  dear 
missionary-hearted  Christians,  who  have 
prayed  for  China  and  India,  and  worked  for 
Africa  and  the  Isles  of  the  Sea,  but  neglected 
Roman  Catholic  South  America.’’ 

D.  As  a result  of  this  open  idolatry,  this 
shameful  insult  to  a reasoning,  thoughtful 
mind,  a large  per  cent,  of  the  educated  men 
of  South  America  are  atheists.  They  cannot 
accept  a religion  which  is  so  palpably  absurd. 
Consequently,  they  have  sought  help  in  this 
or  that  philosophy,  only  to  end  in  blank 
atheism.  Conduct  and  thought  are  completely 
divorced  from  religion.  “Both  the  intellect- 
ual life  and  the  ethical  standards  of  these 
countries  seem  to  be  entirely  divorced  from 
religion.  The  women  are  almost  universally 
‘practising’  Catholics,  but  the  men  of  the 
upper  or  educated  class  appear  wholly  indif- 
ferent to  theology  and  to  Christian  worship. 
It  has  no  interest  for  them — they  think  it 
does  not  concern  them  and  may  be  left  to 
women  and  peasants.  In  the  more  advanced 
parts  of  South  America  it  (the  Church) 
seems  to  be  regarded  merely  as  a harmless 
Old  World  affair  which  belongs  to  a past  or- 
der of  things  just  as  much  as  does  the  rule 
of  Spain,  but  which  may,  so  long  as  it  does 
not  interfere  with  politics,  be  treated  with 
the  respect  which  its  antiquity  commands. 
The  absence  of  a religious  foundation  for 
thought  and  conduct  is  a grave  misfortune 
for  Latin  America.’’  t 

E.  The  number  of  illiterates  in  Latin 
America  is  so  appalling  that  there  can  be  no 
question  as  to  the  need  of  missionary 

* Guinness,  “Peru,”  page  323;  Bryce,  “South 
America,”  page  582. 

t Bryce,  “South  America,”  page  582. 


24 


schools.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church,  su- 
preme, in  every  sense,  for  almost  four  cen- 
turies, has  dictated  the  educational  policies 
of  the  Latin  American  states  and,  in  some 
of  them,  even  ^ until  to-day  it  exercises  the 
right  of  censorship  as  regards  methods  and 
text-books.  Some  of  the  more  advanced  gov- 
ernments, under  the  lead  of  liberal  states- 
men, have  sought  help  from  European  educa- 
tors, and  some  from  those  of  the  United 
States,  and  have  established  modern  sys- 
tems of  education  that  promise  better  things 
for  the  coming  generations.  But  the  sorrow- 
ful influence  of  the  Church  in  past  centuries 
may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  even  the 
two  most  advanced  republics  of  South  Amer- 
ica, Chile  and  the  Argentine,  still  report  that 
sixty  per  cent,  of  their  population  is  illiterate. 
Others,  as  Bolivia  and  Ecuador,  have  as  high 
as  eighty-five  per  cent,  of  illiterates.  The 
enormity  of  this  lack  of  education  may  be 
more  fully  understood  if  we  compare  these 
statistics  with  those  of  our  own  country. 
Kansas,  and  some  of  its  neighboring  states, 
report  a total  illiterate  population  equal  to 
about  two  per  cent,  of  the  whole.  Louisiana, 
which  has  the  greatest  negro  population  of  all 
our  states,  reports  38%  of  illiterates.  The 
average  for  all  of  the  United  States,  accord- 
ing to  a recent  report  of  the  Census  Direc- 
tor, is  about  seven  per  cent,  of  our  popula- 
tion, and  this  in  spite  of  our  negro  popula- 
tion and  our  tremendous  annual  immigration 
from  the  most  illiterate  States  of  Europe. 
Among  children  of  school  age  in  the  United 
States,  only  4.1%  are  illiterate.  In  Peru 
only  about  20%  of  the  children  of  school  age 
go  to  school,  leaving  80%  of  illiterates.  In 
Bolivia,  only  30,000  out  of  2,000,000  popula- 
tion are  in  school.  While  Kansas  and  other 
of  our  states  have  one-fourth  of  their  popu- 
lation in  school,  some  of  the  South  American 
republics  have  but  one-thirtieth  of  theirs  un- 
der instruction.  Any  exact  percentage  of 
illiterates  for  Latin  America  cannot  be  de- 
termined, but  it  is  probably  'not  far  from 
75%  of  the  entire  population,  or  about  the 
same  as  that  of  Spain,  the  mother  land  from 
which  most  of  these  states  are  sprung. 


25 


President  Patton,  of  Princeton,  it  is  said, 
once  remarked:  “I  thank  God  that  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  has  been  a schoolhouse  and 
college-building  Church,  and  not  a builder  of 
Cathedrals.  ’ ’ And  this  is  true  of  all  the 
Protestant  churches  of  North  America.  One 
cannot  travel  far  in  a train  in  the  United 
States  without  seeing  the  little  red  or  white 
schoolhouses  that  dot  the  whole  country, 
while  our  villages  and  towns  and  cities  are 
full  of  buildings  in  which  the  young  are  be- 
ing educated  and  trained  to  be  useful  citi- 
zens of  this  great  republic.  Nor  are  church 
edifices  lacking;  for  the  educated  man  or 
woman  knows  that  mind  and  heart  need 
equal  attention.  Catholic  America  has  built 
many  churches  and  many  splendid  cathedrals, 
most  of  which  to-day  stand  practically  empty. 
But  it  has  built  few  schools.  One  might 
travel  for  thousands  of  miles  through  the 
heart  of  South  and  Central  America,  and  see 
no  schoolhouse,  except  in  the  towns  or  cities. 
Wayside  crosses  and  images  of  the  saints  are 
to  be  found  at  every  turn,  and  there  are 
splendid  piles  of  brick  and  stone  that  house 
the  immense  companies  of  monks  and  nuns, 
many  of  these  people,  even,  illiterate;  but 
the  traveller’s  eye  misses  the  friendly  sim- 
ple school  architecture,  that  marks  a nation 
in  the  making,  and  that  is  one  of  the  char- 
acterists  of  Anglo-Saxon  Protestant  Amer- 
ica. 

Some  of  the  most  backward  republics  of 
Latin  America  are  now  trying  to  shake  off 
this  incubus  of  ignorance  and  are  engaging 
foreign  teachers  for  the  reorganization  of 
their  school  system,  the  implanting  of  Nor- 
mal Schools  and  Pedagogical  Institutes.  Bo- 
livia, a few  years  ago,  offered  a Presbyterian 
missionary  the  position  of  head  of  its  educa- 
tional system  with  full  powers  to  reorganize 
the  same  along  modern  lines.  Ecuador  called 
in  a Methodist  preacher  to  help  in  its  Nor- 
mal Schools;  and  Peru  is  to-day  utilizing  the 
help  of  American  educators  in  the  state 
schools. 

F.  The  lands  that  are  so  woefully  deficient 
in  matters  of  education  cannot  produce  the 
highest  type  of  citizens.  Few  names  of 

26 


Latin  America  are  known  outside  their  own 
states.  Few  world  statesmen  have  been  pro- 
duced south  of  the  Kio  Grande.  This  must 
be  true  where  a Church  arrogates  to  itself 
prerogatives  superior  to  those  of  the  State 
and  strives  to  build  itself  up  at  the  expense 
of  the  civil  power,  teaching  its  citizens  that 
so  long  as  they  obey  the  precepts  of  their 
religious  leaders  the  civil  laws  and  the  larger 
interests  of  the  State  are  of  little  im- 
portance. In  an  Encyclical  issued  in  Eng- 
land during  the  past  century  we  may  find 
the  words;  “The  State  has  not  the  right  to 
deny  the  Church  the  use  of  force  or  the  pos- 
session of  either  a direct  or  an  indirect  tem- 
poral power.  The  Church  has  the  right  to 
deprive  the  Civil  Government  of  the  sole  con- 
trol of  public  schools.  She  has  the  right  to 
require  that  the  Catholic  religion  shall  be  the 
only  religion  of  the  State,  to  the  exclusion 
of  all  others.  She  has  the  right  of  requiring 
the  State  not  to  permit  free  expression  of 
opinion.”  Whatever  has  been  gained  of 
civil  freedom  in  Eoman  Catholic  lands,  has 
been  gained  in  opposition  to  the  Church  of 
Rome.  And  where  there  is  a civil  marriage 
law,  as  in  Chile  and  Bolivia,  adherents  of  the 
Church  are  openly  counselled  by  the  priest- 
hood to  disobey  the  law,  although,  by  so  do- 
ing, they  know  that  all  children  born  to  those 
not  married  by  the  State  must  be  classed  as 
illegitimate  in  the  eyes  of  the  law.  It  may 
be  that  in  this  disrespect  for  law  that  is  in- 
culcated by  the  Church  we  find  a cause  for 
the  frequent  political  uprisings  in  some  of  the 
Latin  American  republics.  For  in  all  these 
States  there  is  a church  party,  ever  zealous 
of  the  prerogatives  of  that  power  that  sits  on 
the  Seven  Hills,  and  would  fain  rule  the  na- 
tions with  a rod  of  iron.  Would  it  be  too 
much  to  suggest,  even,  that  in  this  subver- 
sion of  civil  power  by  the  Church  authori- 
ties, we  have  an  explanation  of  the  fact  that 
the  most  notorious  criminals  have  come  from 
that  communion  where  they  have  been  reared 
and  nurtured  in  an  atmosphere  that  incul- 
cated disrespect  for  the  law?  [Is  it  by  mere 
chance  that  John  Wilkes  Booth,  the  slayer 
of  Abraham  Lincoln;  Guiteau,  the  assassin 


27 


of  Garfield;  Czolgosz,  who  murdered  McKin- 
ley; and  Schrank,  the  would-be  slayer  of 
Roosevelt, — not  to  mention  the  regicides  of 
Europe, — were  all  trained  by  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic Church?] 

Less  than  fifty  years  ago,  the  only  legal 
marriage  in  Chile  was  that  performed  by  a 
Roman  Catholic  priest,  and  Protestants  could 
not  be  buried  in  holy  ground.  The  heretics 
were  compelled  to  inter  their  dead  at  night, 
in  order  that  the  very  Catholic  senses  of  the 
city  might  not  be  offended,  and  an  abandoned 
rocky  hill  served  for  years  as  the  unmarked 
resting  place  of  the  Protestant  dead.  When 
this  hill  was  finally  turned  into  a park,  the 
pious  Catholic  mayor  caused  to  be  erected 
over  the  spot  where  the  heretical  bones  were 
found  this  benevolent  inscription:  “To  the 
memory  of  those  who  are  exiled  from  Heaven 
and  Earth!” 

The  liberal  legislation  of  Chile  is  due,  in 
large  part,  to  the  influence  of  Protestant  mis- 
sionaries, and  to-day  the  civil  marriage  is 
the  only  legal  marriage,  and  the  civil  ceme- 
tery opens  its  doors  to  the  dead  of  any  or  no 
faith. 

The  Jesuits,  who  are  the  power  behind  the 
papacy,  have  always  been  the  enemies  of 
progress  and  have  been  expelled  from  almost 
all  civilized  nations  at  one  time  or  another. 
Only  within  a few  days  the  Chancellor  of  the 
German  Empire  has  said  they  have  been  op- 
posed by  both  Catholic  and  Protestant  lands 
because  of  “their  militant  activity  in  poli- 
tics, the  church  and  the  schools,  their  inter- 
national character,  and  their  opposition  to 
the  growth  of  the  State.”  Victor  Hugo  has 
admirably  defined  this  spirit  of  antagonism 
to  all  progress.  Speaking  -of  the  Clerical 
party  in  France,  he  says:  “This  it  is  which 
has  found  for  the  truth  those  two  marvel- 
lous supporters,  ignorance  and  error.  This  it 
is  which  forbids  to  Science  and  Genius  the 
going  beyond  the  Missal,  and  wishes  to  clois- 
ter thought  in  dogmas.  Every  step  which  the 
intelligence  of  Europe  has  taken  has  been  in 
spite  of  it.  Its  history  is  written  in  the  his- 
tory of  human  progress, — but  it  is  written 
on  the  back  of  the  leaf.  It  is  opposed  to  all. 


28 


This  it  is  which  caused  Prinelli  to  he  scourged 
for  having  said  that  the  stars  would  not  fall. 
This  it  is  which  put  Campanella  seven  times 
to  the  torture  for  saying  that  the  number  of 
worlds  was  infinite,  and  for  having  caught  a 
glimpse  at  the  secret  of  Creation.  This  it  is 
which  persecuted  Harvey  for  having  proved 
the  circulation  of  the  blood.  In  the  name  of 
Jesus  it  shut  up  Galileo.  In  the  name  of  St. 
Paul,  it  imprisoned  Christopher  Columbus. 
To  discover  a law  of  the  heavens  was  an  im- 
piety, to  find  a world  a heresy.  It  wishes  to 
be  master  of  education,  and  there  is  not  a 
Poet,  nor  an  Author,  nor  a Thinker,  nor  a 
Philosopher  which  it  accepts.” 

G.  The  social  condition  of  Latin  America  is 
a theme  of  which  one  hesitates  to  write. 
There  is  an  entirely  different  standard  of 
morals  south  of  the  Eio  Grande  which  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States  do  not  understand. 
With  our  inheritance  of  moral  sense  from  the 
Pilgrim  fathers,  whose  influence,  fortunately, 
is  not  yet  lost  on  our  national,  as  well  as  pri- 
vate, life,  we  cannot  understand  what  seems 
to  us  to  be  a moral  warp  in  the  character  of 
our  Southern  neighbors.  Few  of  them  speak 
with  “winged,  straight-flung  words  and 
few,”  as  we  do  in  English;  not 

“By  open  speech  and  simple. 

An  hundred  times  made  plain;” 

but  the  sinuosities  of  the  ornate  polished  Cas- 
tilian tongue  seem  to  lend  themselves  to  a 
concealment  of  truth  and  the  speaker’s  real 
motives,  so  that  deception  and  falsehood 
come  to  be  practised  as  a fine  art.  The  sin 
of  falsehood,  according  to  the  Church,  is  not 
in  the  lie  itself,  but  in  its  being  found  out. 
He  or  she  who  lies  artistically,  merits  small 
blame.  Consequently,  the  whole  fabric  of 
social  and  commercial  life  stands  upon  an  in- 
secure basis.  The  widespread  distrust  which 
every  one  holds  toward  every  one  else,  makes 
life  a burden  and  progress  difficult. 

The  most  important  church  festivals  are 
often  given  over  to  drunken  orgies  that 
would  have  put  to  shame  the  devotees  of 
Bacchus  two  thousand  years  ago.  The 


29 


Church  encourages  the  production  of  strong 
spirits  and  its  representatives  excel  in  the 
consumption  of  the  same.  “Priests  go 
drunken  to  celebrate  the  mass,  or  to  carry 
extreme  unction  to  the  dying.’’ 

The  awful  results  of  impurity  may  be 
judged  from  the  fact  that  at  least  half  the 
population  of  Latin  America  is  of  illegitimate 
birth.  Communities  have  been  cited  where 
the  total  of  illegitimates  reached  95%  of  the 
entire  population,  and  in  which  a marriage 
ceremony  had  never  been  performed.  Boys 
and  girls  learn  through  the  confessional 
things  of  which  men  and  women  might  well 
remain  in  ignorance,  and  children  are  as  wise, 
at  ten  years  of  age,  in  regard  to  the  mystery 
of  life  and  the  relation  of  the  sexes,  as  are 
our  children  at  twice  that  age.  Stories  are 
recounted  in  mixed  gatherings,  with  children 
present,  and  thinly  veiled  references  made  to 
things  that  would  be  unmentionable  among 
us  in  a company  of  gentlemen.  Blasphemy 
is  common  to  all,  and  few,  even  cultured 
ladies,  consider  it  an  offense  or  a sin  to  in- 
terlard their  conversation  with  the  names  of 
God,  Jesus,  Mary,  Joseph,  or  some  or  all  of 
the  Saints.  Sacred  names  come  to  have  no 
sacredness,  through  much  use.  It  is  no  un- 
common thing  to  see  a store,  a butcher-shop, 
or  a drinking-bar  dedicated  to  the  Saviour,  to 
the  Virgin,  or  to  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  writer 
once  saw  a saloon  with  the  sign  across  the 
door,  “Saloon  of  Jesus  Christ,”  this  being 
the  man’s  name.  The  “Society  of  the  Holy 
Name”  has  not  yet  made  its  influence  felt 
where  Catholicism  rules  supreme.  Sunday  is 
not  a day  of  rest,  but  a day  of  amusement,  a 
European  Sunday  carried  to  an  extreme. 
Elections  and  bull-fights  are  scheduled  for 
Sunday,  and  in  some  countries  or  cities  the 
races  are  prohibited  on  other  days.  When 
the  morning  mass  is  over  the  rest  of  the  day 
may  be  given  up  by  the  women  to  any  form 
of  entertainment.  The  man  does  not  include 
mass  in  the  day’s  round. 

These  are,  in  outline,  a few  of  the  prob- 
lems that  the  missionary  in  Latin  America 
is  called  upon  to  solve;  some  of  the  condi- 
tions which  make  imperative  the  increase  of 


30 


Evangelical  missionary  effort  in  those  lands. 
The  responsibility  of  the  solution  of  these 
problems  and  the  bettering  of  the  conditions 
outlined  in  this  paper,  rests  in  an  unusual 
degree  with  the  Evangelical  churches  of  the 
United  States  and  Canada.  Our  benevolent 
Monroe  Doctrine  prevents  territorial  acqui- 
sition by  European  powers,  and  the  sphere 
of  the  influence  of  Europeans  is  thus,  ipso 
facto,  limited  to  commercial  conquests,  that 
only  too  often  mean  the  despoiling  of  the 
native  races  and  an  unpardonable  waste  of 
natural  resources,  in  order  that  fortunes  niay 
be  quickly  wrested  from  the  lands  in  which 
they  have  but  a momentary  interest.  The 
foreign  merchant  is  little  interested  in  bet- 
tering the  moral  condition  of  Latin  lands, 
provided  he  can,  under  present  conditions, 
continue  to  realize  a high  interest  on  his  in- 
vestment. Great  Britain  alone,  in  a single 
year,  takes  out  of  South  America,  as  gains 
on  the  investments  of  her  citizens,  more  than 
Europe  and  America  combined,  through  their 
Evangelical  churches,  contribute  to  the  moral 
and  spiritual  uplift  of  the  Latin  peoples,  in 
a century. 

With  the  exception  of  Mexico,  the  com- 
merce of  the  United  States  in  Latin  Amer- 
ica is  almost  negligible  as  compared  with 
that  of  the  European  powers.  When  the 
Panama  Canal  is  completed  that  commerce 
must  inevitably  increase.  Yet,  in  even  a 
greater  ratio,  there  will  be  an  increase  in 
our  already  tremendous  responsibility  for  the 
intellectual,  moral,  and  spiritual  uplift  of 
those  seventy  millions  of  fellow  Americans 
who  live  south  of  the  Eio  Grande.  Terri- 
torial and  commercial  hegemony  being  also 
a hegemony  of  moral  responsibility  that  can- 
not be  lightly  put  aside. 

When  Chile  and  the  Argentine  made  a treaty 
of  peace  a few  years  ago,  after  decades  of  na- 
tional bickerings  and  mutual  misunderstand- 
ings, during  which  war  often  seemed  un- 
avoidable, they  erected  on  their  common 
frontier  a gigantic  statue  of  the  Prince  of 
Peace.  On  the  pedestal  they  inscribed  these 
words: — 


31 


“Sooner  shall  these  mountains  crum- 
ble into  dust  than  Chileans  and  Ar- 
gentines break  the  peace  which  at 
the  feet  of  Christ  the  Redeemer 
they  have  sworn  to  maintain.” 

But  when  they  came  to  set  up  this  statue 
of  ‘‘The  Christ  of  the  Andes,”  they  had  to 
decide  this  question,  How  should  the  face  of 
the  Christ  be  turned?  The  warlike  Chileans 
would  not  consent  that  the  Christ  should 
turn  his  back  on  Chile,  and  look  to  the  east- 
ward across  the  broad  pampas  of  the  Argen- 
tine. Nor  would  the  patriotic  Argentine  con- 
sent that  the  Redeemer  should  turn  His  face 
toward  Chile  and  the  broad  Pacific  beyond. 
Neither  Argentine  nor  Chilean  was  willing 
that  the  ‘‘Christ  of  the  Andes”  should  face 
the  South,  where  lie  the  tempestuous  waters 
that  surge  about  Cape  Horn,  and  the  cold  in- 
hospitable lands  that  lie  beyond.  And  so 
they  turned  His  face  to  the  North.  And 
there  stands  to-day  the  ‘‘Christ  of  the  An- 
des,” with  the  upborne  Cross  and  the  up- 
lifted hand,  as  though  He  were  looking  and 
waiting  for  the  help  that  must  come  from 
this  great  Protestant  Northland.* 

Around  and  below  Him,  too,  in  the  moun- 
tain fastnesses  and  plateaus,  and  among  the 
valleys,  and  out  on  the  broad  plains,  and 
along  those  splendid  rivers,  await  the  peo- 
ples of  Latin  America.  The  silent,  impassive 
Indian,  still  bearing  his  burden  of  centuries, 
and  the  impulsive,  light-hearted,  lovable 
Latin,  in  city  and  village  and  hamlet,  await 
the  help  that  must  come  from  their  fellow 
Americans  of  the  North. 

“By  the  value  of  souls,  by  the  shortness 
of  time,  by  the  greatness  of  the  field,  DO 
SOMETHING  DEFINITE  FOR  LATIN 
AMERICA.  If  we  fail,  will  not  these  mil- 
lions rise  and  ask  in  the  Great  Day  why  we 
left  them  without  a knowledge  of  the  Great 
Shepherd?” 

* See  Neeley’s  “South  America.” 


Form  No.  2041. 


32 


The  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 

156  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York 

November  1. 1918 


The  Willett  Press,  New  York 


